Untangling a Memory

Awake

Five days on and Natasha was still under heavy sedation. Shuri had been in contact with Clint frequently and they had agreed that based on her progress, a bit more time of supervised rest would be a good thing for her recovery. Clint had assured Shuri that as soon as Natasha was awake, she would want to be out of that hospital bed, so as much time as they could reasonably give her under deep sleep would to be a wise idea.

After they had done her full medical intake on the first day, they had gotten a more extensive look at her injuries and they were... extensive. Shuri and the doctors realized once they were changing her into a medical dressing gown that the wounds from the battle weren't her only injuries. Natasha had an additional two cracked ribs on the other side of her ribcage that were in the process of healing. She also had numerous bruises and a finger that looked to have recently completely dislocated and been haphazardly reset. Shuri had reviewed the information with Steve and he knew of none of the injuries, though he wasn't altogether surprised.

When Steve found out the news, he felt resentment and frustration, but mostly shame. He should have known that since Natasha was going out all the time by herself on recon that she would get injured and that, if she had, she wouldn't say anything. He had asked her if anything happened each time she came back, but her response was always something to the effect of 'nothing she couldn't handle.' He knew he should have realized that pain and injury were included in the 'handling.'

Bucky was told of the additional injuries as well and reached out to Steve immediately. He knew that Steve would be beating himself up over it. But he also understood what Natasha had done. The Winter Soldier would have done the same thing. Wipe yourself off, wrap yourself up, continue on, you've still got work to do. Bucky hurt for her that she felt she had to do that, but he couldn't fault her for it. So, he did his best to be there for Steve and let him know it wasn't his fault, in the same way Steve always reassured him.

Bucky wasn't only there for Steve. Each of the five days since Natasha had arrived, he had sat next to her bed all day, as long as they would let him. Sometimes he would hold her hand, sometimes he just sat in the chair to keep her company. Usually he read the book she'd leant him. He hadn't been reading it while she was away, finding it reminded him too much of her, but he was back to reading it now. He'd thought about reading it aloud to her, but knowing others were around and might hear, he chose to just keep it to himself. Being next to her was enough.

He'd felt very strongly about being there for her. Bucky'd always felt so anxious, disoriented, and scared when he'd woken up from cryo, surrounded by white coats and handlers. He didn't want her to have the same experience of potentially not having anyone there that she knew when her sedation finally was lifted. And even though Shuri had told him that Natasha's sedation was closely monitored and regulated and that she wouldn't be out of it until they decided, he felt he couldn't risk it. So, Bucky sat in a chair next to her, slept with his head on the foot of her bed when he couldn't keep his eyes open anymore, and made sure Shuri was there anytime he ran out to shower, change clothes, and grab food.

Finally, on the sixth day, Clint and Shuri had agreed that it was time to wake Natasha up. They didn't want her laying in the bed too long without moving and she would want to make some decisions about her achilles repair soon. They also wanted to check her vision now that her orbital bone had a couple days to heal.

Shuri gently woke Bucky, who had been resting his head on his folded arms, next to Natasha's feet. She told him that Natasha likely wouldn't wake up immediately, but asked that Bucky try to keep her from moving around when she did. Shuri would come over once Natasha was awake to talk to her and check her over. Bucky moved his chair back next to Natasha's side and returned to reading. 

"James Buchanan Barnes. Aren't you sight for sore eyes. Or sore eye, as the case may be."

Bucky looked up to a bleary-eyed Natasha, finally rousing from deep sleep. She tried to smirk, but it came out looking a little off because of the swollen bruise above her eye currently covered by an ice pack. Bucky couldn't help, but smile at her. She looked like a mess, but she was still joking. She was still beautiful, funny Natasha under all the bandages.